The 1-1 draw leaves Martin three games into the league season without a win despite Findlay Curtis rescuing the side

14:22, 24 Aug 2025Updated 14:37, 24 Aug 2025

Russell Martin admits his middle parting hasn’t gone down well with his Ibrox critics.

But it’s performances like this one in Paisley that are the real reason why more and more Rangers fans have already decided he’s destined for the chop.

A third straight draw for the Ibrox side meant it was more than just a bad hair day for the Light Blues boss as he became the first Rangers manager since Graeme Souness 36 years ago to see his side fail to win any of their first three league games.

And note just that, Martin is now the first Ibrox boss to win just three of his first nine games in charge.

And it’s a result that raises huge question marks over the former Southampton coach’s future just nine games into his new Ibrox reign.

Rangers Manager Russell Martin in the SMiSA dugout

Martin trudged off looking glum but Stephen Robinson will feel every bit as disappointed after his side’s close shave with victory.

The Buddies thoroughly deserved to be leading at the break after Mikel Mandron played in strike partner Jonah Ayunga to fire home the opener on 31 minutes.

It looked like they were set to take a huge scalp until Findlay Curtis rescued a point for the visitors with 12 minutes remaining.

But it’s not the result Rangers were hoping for ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League return clash against Club Brugge.

Suffer a sore one in Belgium and Martin could find himself being tarred with the same brush as axed gaffers Philippe Clement and Michael Beale.

Miserable Martin

Martin admitted last week’s had had to learn to roll with the punches in his early days in charge of Rangers.

But in the eyes of many supporters, anything less that a win against Saints would prove to be a knock-out blow.

Now it remains to be seen how the club’s new American owners will react with their team sitting seventh, seven points behind Celtic only three games into the new season.

But with so many supporters running out of patience, the pressure was on Martin to produce. He had to give the fans something, anything, that offered hope a turning point was close.

Rangers’ Findlay Curtis celebrates with Lyall Cameron as he scores to make it 1-1

But yet again there was little sign of the fluency the Rangers support have been told is on the way.

There are definitely moments when Gers work the space Martin’s set-up is supposedly designed to exploit. But more often than not those gaps vanish as the resistant Ibrox men insist upon an unnecessary extra touch.

Saints on the other hand, had no problem finding the space and pounced upon it for the opener.

Gers did turn things after substitute Curtis pounced for his third goal of the campaign but as was the case in Tuesday’s 3-1 defeat to Brugge at Ibrox, the second-half push was all too little too late.

Mellow Thelo

With Cyriel Dessers still crocked and Hamza Igamane still short on sharpness, Russell Martin decided he could take no chances with his only recognised fit frontman Danilo ahead of Wednesday’s trip to the Jan Breydel Stadium.

With the Brazilian wrapped in cotton wool on the bench until half-time, that meant a full debut for Thelo Aasgaard in the false No9 slot.

The position wasn’t a total mystery for the Norway international, who had played up there on a handful of occasions for former club Wigan.

But while he looked comfortable playing with his back to goal and taking the ball in under pressure, he lacked the killer instinct of a proper poacher.

He had a huge chance to level just before half-time but couldn’t prod the ball past Shamal George as the Saints keeper produced a paw from nowhere to bat it away.

A move for former Aberdeen ace Bojan Miovski is on the cards. For Martin’s sake, the North Macedonian’s arrival can’t come quick enough.

Manny overboard

Rangers performed a U-turn on their initial decision to postpone this game after seeing Nasser Djiga sent-off against Dundee – a red card that would have seen him suspended for next week’s Old Firm clash had this game not gone ahead.

They will be wishing they’d stuck with that decision now.

Manny Fernandez had plenty of to get himself geed up for his first big test since joining from Peterborough in a £2.5million deal.

But for all that the giant 6ft 4ins centre back could match up in their height stakes against St Mirren’s twin pairing of Ayunga and Mandron, he was woefully short when it came to measuring up against their energy and commitment levels.

It was the Londoner at fault for Saints’ winner/opener as he got caught the wrong side of Ayunga as Mandron rolled his strike partner in behind the Gers backline.

John Souttar must take some of the blame too after being caught far too high and square with his defensive sidekick.

Misfiring midfield

In his scramble to find a formula that works, Martin went for a midfield comprising Nico Raskin as the No6 with Joe Rothwell and Lyall Cameron the eights ahead of him.

It’s the sixth different starting midfield combination the former Southampton boss has tried out in his nine games so far.

But he appears no closer to finding a blend that clicks.

With Mohamed Diomande dropping out after bleak Brugge performance, in came Cameron. The former Dundee kid offered energy but struggled to match up against his brawny Buddies opponents.

Raskin was busy enough dropping in between the centre backs but found any pass he played forward coming right back at him as the men in front failed to take care of possession.

As for Rothwell, the Ibrox faithful have every reason to ask what happened to a man that was by all accounts key to Leeds’ Championship-winning efforts last season.

Gers toils in the engine room were in sharp contrast to the sensational Saints trio of Mark O’Hara, Killian Phillips and Keanu Baccus. Martin must wish he had men capable of producing the intensity of the Robinson’s battlers.

Paisley patternJonah Ayunga of St Mirren shoots past Rangers goalkeeper Jack Butland and scores to give St Mirren a 1-0 lead

St Mirren took seven points out of 12 from Gers last year and deserved to kick off this campaign with another victory.

As Gers dithered and dallied, Robinson’s brave Buddies hounded their every move.

It was a sensational show of hunger and desire. OK it might not wins prizes for how pretty it is but it’s effective alright.

And the Saints support clearly appreciate it given the way they roared their team forward.

Keep this up and the Paisley men will have no problem making the top six for a fourth year on the bounce.